Letters: Payday loan bullying tactics like Wild West

Just over a week a go on a Saturday morning I received a text message for the attention someone called Paul, offering a £500 short-term loan. As you may have guessed, my name is not Paul and I can only believe that Paul has put my phone number down in error when applying for a pay day loan.

At the time I thought no more of it and did not respond. However, over the last 10 days, I have received over 150 text messages offering Paul ‘quick cash’, even on a Sunday morning.

Most of the messages read: “unfortunately Paul we cannot off the £1,000 loan you applied for, but we can offer you £600.00. Call now for the money to be in your account this afternoon.”

Along with the 150 plus text messages I have also received approximately 20 phone calls wanting to speak to Paul. They also personalise the messages by saying things like: “Paul it’s Saturday, call now for £200 to party tonight.”

Even though I believe people can make their own minds up on whether they use payday loan companies or not, I also can see how people are almost bullied and tempted into replying and getting their hands on quick cash, especially if things are tough and life looks bleak.

The industry is corrupt and resembles the Wild West. It is a bloody joke that mortgages are regulated with an iron bar when payday loan companies are allowed to do whatever they want and can destroy lives

Harrison (not Paul)

Not in my backyard for a good reason

I read last week that over 50 per cent of UK adults would oppose a major house building programme if it was in their neighbourhood. The reason people do not want developments in their backyard is because the council who has granted the planning never looks at the infrastructure. So there is another 1,000 new homes built and nothing done to improve the roads, conditions, layouts or anything. So more house equals more traffic which then leads to more congestion and delays. Brilliant. Who in their right mind would want that?

The Cynical Broker

Sending documents by post is certifiable

I was interested to read eight in 10 brokers would like to be able to send information, like P60s or wage slips, to lenders using their smartphones.

Of course there is a security issue but that should be overcome quite comfortably with lender upload systems. We aim to scan on rather than photocopy documents from clients to reduce our paper files.

The issue is certification and we should at least be able to email or upload documents from our offices without having to print them, stamp every page with certification and scan them in again to upload, thus losing clarity and resolution, resulting in the request from lenders send them by post.

We need to be able to certify in the covering email/upload that “all documents attached” are true copies etc.

Let’s get into the real (modern) world sooner rather than later.

Chris Hulme

Precisely what the self-employed need

It is fantastic news that Precise Mortgages had overhauled its self-employed criteria. Now it will lend if the borrower has just one year’s accounts and has removed the minimum trading period.

It is great to know that some mortgage providers are willing to use a common sense approach to Self-Employed. Halifax and Kensington already do this, so it’s great to see Precise also adapting their criteria for Self-Employed workers.

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10th September 201511:34 am

Newsletter

Banning companies from offering loans is a bad move as far the free market in trade is concerned, limiting the amount they can charge and the add on costs that bump the ‘loan’ through the percentage ceiling is a better option however it is a sad state of affairs when loan sharks get legal or they become a part of the structure of daylight robbery that any government seems hog tied in preventing. Perhaps there is a way of using the defunct banks that we all have a stake in to better use.http://creditspoint.com/payday-loans/

Harrison, you are quite right to be annoyed with such bad behaviour from a Payday Lender and the texting and tempting you raise hear is something that is just as annoying to those within the industry that simply wouldn’t use these tactics but instead respect potential and existing customers and their privacy.

All payday lenders will have to apply to the FCA for full authorisation by the end of Feb 2015 and at this point it is hoped that lenders who ignore the decency and respect they owe their customers, present or future, will no longer be able to trade. Until then it is advisable to report such behaviour to the FCA under misleading financial promotions and give the authorisations team a heads up on any lender who is considered in your words part of the “wild west”